Several Senate and governor races around country still uncertain

Posted: Wed 10:22 AM, Nov 03, 2010

DENVER (AP) - Senate races in three states and a handful ofgubernatorial races remained extraordinarily close Wednesday andseemed destined for contested vote counts that could drag on forweeks. The tight votes signaled how closely divided American voters arein an election that produced a split Congress, with Republicanstaking control of the House and Democrats maintaining power in theSenate. The candidates in the Washington state and Colorado Senate raceswere separated by a few thousand votes after campaigns thatattracted tens of millions of dollars in spending. The Republicannominee in the Alaska Senate race was already gearing up for alegal fight and sending lawyers to the state. Several gubernatorial races were in similar territory, includingOregon, Illinois, Connecticut and Maine. It could take weeks before a winner is named in Alaska's Senaterace because of Sen. Lisa Murkowski's write-in candidacy. No U.S. Senate candidate has won as a write-in since StromThurmond did it in 1954, but with 99 percent of precincts reportingearly Wednesday, write-ins had 41 percent of the vote. Tea party favorite Joe Miller, who beat Murkowski for the GOPnomination in August by just 2,006 votes, received 34 percent. But the write-in count only speaks to total ballots cast forwrite-ins - not to names written on them. Murkowski is one of 160write-in candidates eligible for the race that featured formerAlaska Gov. Sarah Palin's vigilant support of Miller, andpro-Murkowski ads featuring the late Sen. Ted Stevens. The belovedsenator filmed the ads 10 days before his death in a plane crashare ran with the blessing of his family. "And so we wait," Miller said in a Twitter post after pollsclosed. The focus now turns to how and when the write-in ballots arecounted. Lt. Gov. Craig Campbell, who oversees elections, saidWednesday that write-in votes for "Joe Miller" won't count towardMiller's tally because he isn't an official write-in candidate. Miller's campaign manager, Robert Campbell, suggested a battleloomed. "As cliched as it is, it's not over till it's over," he said. The lieutenant governor said he planned to ask the Division ofElections to begin determining who received write-in votes withinthe next few days. "The whole point is, we want to do the right thing and we wantto do it as fast as we can," he said. In Colorado, Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet led Republicanchallenger Ken Buck by about 7,000 votes out of 1.6 million cast, amargin of less than 1 percent. In Washington, Democratic Sen. Patty Murray led Republican DinoRossi by about 14,000 votes out of 1.4 million cast. Washingtonvotes almost entirely by mail, and it can take several days toreceive and tally all the ballots working their way through themail. Washington and Colorado faced the prospect of recounts becausethe tallies were so close. Washington has a long history of tight races. Rossi lost the2004 governor's race by just 133 votes and endured a similarlytight vote in a rematch four years later. In 2000, Maria Cantwelledged Sen. Slade Gorton by about 2,000 votes. "Unfortunately, we don't know what's going to happen in thisrace yet," Rossi told supporters in Bellevue. "There's still alot of ballots to count, you know. But it's Washington state. Whatare you going to do?" Florida has a unique place in American history when it comes toclose vote counts given its role in settling the 2000 presidentialrace. This year, it looked like it could have been the site of asmaller post-election squabble in the governor's race betweenRepublican Rick Scott and Democrat Alex Sink. Scott was clinging to a lead of just tens of thousands of votesout of more than 5 million cast when Sink conceded the raceWednesday. In Vermont, the gubernatorial election between Democrat PeterShumlin and Republican Brian Dubie seemed headed for theLegislature to decide the winner in January. Under Vermont's Constitution, lawmakers chose the governor bysecret ballot if no candidate receives 50 percent of the vote plusone vote. Shumlin had 49.4 percent of the vote early Wednesdaycompared with Dubie's 47.9 percent, but Dubie conceded Wednesdayand has said he wouldn't pursue election in the Legislature if hewas clearly behind.

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